Netflix The Mexican-American comic offers English and Spanish versions of his show, but the sexist fare is depressing however you look at itWith Bad Decisions/Malas Decisiones, Felipe Esparza becomes the first comedian to release simultaneous Netflix s…
Continue ReadingIs performing for young audiences easier? Far from it say the comedians who do clubs at night and CBBC shows by dayWhat do standup comics do in the daytime? A glance at television schedules provides an answer: many hone their craft in the gaily coloure…
Continue ReadingFrom Ken Dodd and his tickling stick to Nina Conti and her monkey, Guardian photographer Tristram Kenton has snapped a host of superb comedians on stage Continue reading…
Continue ReadingThe debate about the BBC reveals that even when it comes to comedy we are stuck in echo chambers‘A real comedian – that’s a daring man,” Eddie Waters, an old standup turned evening class tutor, tells a group of would-be comics in Trevor Griffiths’s bri…
Continue ReadingWith the Edinburgh festival shelved by Covid, standups have turned a garden shed into a stage for an online extravaganza. Our writer enjoys flashes of brilliance amid a dislocating experienceThere are precedents when it comes to memorable Edinburgh fri…
Continue ReadingPun fights in boxing rings, nine-year-old standups and a 19-day joke-a-thon … anything goes in vibrant, diverse Leicester, finds our writer as she continues her comedy tourIt is the home town of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman, Adrian Mole author Sue Tow…
Continue ReadingBridget Christie pokes fun at Madonna, Suzi Ruffell talks smear tests and John Robins is heckled about Butlins. Our critic’s first standup gig in months is a riot of joy and tension‘This is my first gig since March the 18th!” says John Robins, the host…
Continue ReadingNew director-general Tim Davie will reportedly steer TV comedy to the right to correct years of perceived anti-Tory bias. But it was Brexit, not the BBC, that put a spanner in British humourJust as I couldn’t work myself up over what anyone sings at th…
Continue ReadingNew director-general Tim Davie will reportedly steer TV comedy to the right to correct years of perceived anti-Tory bias. But it was Brexit, not the BBC, that put a spanner in British humourJust as I couldn’t work myself up over what anyone sings at th…
Continue ReadingShakespeare at a cricket ground, a festival in a bombed-out church and park-bench drama – plus more socially distanced shows to enjoy this monthAugust is over but there’s still time to enjoy open-air theatre season. Presented in York’s Rowntree Park, M…
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